


Fortune (Cookie) Favors the Bold

by neoladyapollonia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Coming Out, F/M, M/M, eventual slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2012-11-22
Packaged: 2017-11-19 06:06:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neoladyapollonia/pseuds/neoladyapollonia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry goes to a Wizard Chinese food restaurant where the fortunes are real. The writing appears whenever the cookie is opened and it generates a fortune for the wizard or witch who opens it. Harry's fortune provides some unexpected news (for him at least).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortune (Cookie) Favors the Bold

**Author's Note:**

> There are het couples in this, but no het sex or anything.  
> The Harry/Draco is more implied for in future in this part.  
> I’m also not British, so I don’t really know their slang. I just watch a lot of BBC shows. Fic entirely inspired by this picture - http://alephunky.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d2b63wm ;Ginny’s dress is here - http://s380.photobucket.com/albums/oo241/laceysphotos_album/?action=view¤t=Ginnys-3.jpg ; Hermione’s dress is here - http://s380.photobucket.com/albums/oo241/laceysphotos_album/?action=view¤t=Hermiones-1.jpg  
> Betaread by the lovely General Zoi!  
> Originally posted to lj under the name kitsunetsuki.

“Wow,” Harry exclaimed softly as he entered the restaurant, enthralled by the décor.

“Now you know why I insisted we didn’t do take away, yeah?” Ginny asked with a grin. 

“Yeah,” he replied, still in awe of his surroundings.

It was as if he had taken a Portkey to China. He had been just as amazed at the outside of the building as he was at the inside. On the walk up to the building, there was a huge koi pond out front with a bridge going over it to the main entrance of the restaurant. The giant doors had Chinese dragons on them, with a brass dragon’s head, teeth clenched around a large ring, as the handles. The doors were a lot lighter than they looked when he pulled them open and entered a tiny room. The first thing he had noticed was the floor to ceiling aquarium teeming with brightly coloured fish. It took him a moment to realize he could see through it to the room beyond, causing him to finally notice the doors to either side of the tank. 

He glanced up to see Ginny waiting patiently at one, amusement clear on her face. He rushed forward to open the door for her, a bit embarrassed he could still react to things like he did when he first saw Hogwarts.

Following Ginny through the door, he was glad to see Ron and Hermione waiting for them, Ron just as struck as he was. 

“I know it didn’t feel like it, but are you sure we didn’t grab a Portkey?” the ginger-haired man asked his girlfriend.

Hermione laughed. “Of course I’m sure!” She smiled when she saw Harry and Ginny. “I see Harry’s having a bit of the same problem,” she said, hugging her two friends.

“Well, you can’t blame the man. It’s a bit unexpected,” Ron interjected in he and Harry’s defense. He pulled his best friend into a quick hug. “How ya been, mate?”

“Just the same I suppose,” Harry replied as he looked past the carved walls to the courtyard where a stone gazebo sat above another pond. A small Chinese dragon lay in the grass by the pond, occasionally dipping its head in for a fish. “They really went all out for an authentic feel, didn’t they?”

“And the food is just as good as the atmosphere,” Ginny informed them. “I’ve found I can’t eat fake Chinese food now that I’ve actually been there and this is the only place I’ve found that makes me feel like I’m back there.”

“You look like you’re back there,” Hermione quipped, admiring Ginny’s cheongsam. It was white with golden dragons and phoenixes gliding between falling red flowers and tiny blue clouds. 

“And I see you got yours to fit right,” Ginny answered, smiling. “I knew it would look beautiful on you.” Hermione’s cheongsam was gold with red and yellow plum blossoms, the occasional flower or petal breaking off of its branch and drifting gently to the bottom of the dress, reappearing on its branch minutes later. Hermione’s hair was up in a bun and held there with red chopsticks, while Ginny had blue ones.

Harry shifted uncomfortably, feeling underdressed. Ginny had gotten him an outfit too, but he had refused to wear it out in public. It was great for workouts, but he wasn’t Chinese and he wasn’t going to walk around dressed like Bruce Lee. When he wouldn’t wear what she’d bought for him, she had rummaged through his closet. She had forced him into a brand new pair of jeans that he hadn’t been aware he had owned, a white t-shirt that she had deemed too big and shrunk it so it now clung to him, a black blazer, black belt and his black dress shoes. He tugged at the collar for a second, not used to having clothes that fit so close to his skin.

He glanced at Ron and saw he was at least better off than his friend. Ron noticed him looking and ran his eyes quickly over Harry’s outfit. He frowned. “How come you get to wear jeans and I had to wear these?” he pouted, gesturing to his charcoal grey trousers. “At least I talked her out of the tie…” Harry didn’t think he looked bad. The trousers had a matching blazer with a lavender-colored button up shirt, tucked in, under it, the top two buttons of the shirt undone.

Ron leaned over to his friend as they were led to their table. “If you mention the color of this shirt, it’s purple or lilac. Don’t say lavender to her, alright?”

Harry struggled to smother a chuckle. It had been years since Ron and Lavender Brown had been an item, but it looked like Hermione was still sore over the whole thing. 

He made a quick visual sweep of the room, noting how many people occupied it, but nothing more. The brief look didn’t set off any warning bells in his mind, so he let the image settle to the back of his mind, ready for recall at a moment’s notice. If needed, he would be able to remember details that he didn’t notice now. He trusted his instincts and if nothing set him on edge, he wasn’t going to think about it, especially while out with friends.

They sat and quickly ordered, dinner passing in a comfortable and relaxed manner. And then Ron had to open his mouth.

“Isn’t that Malfoy? What’s he doing here?” he asked, distaste evident in his voice. All heads turned to watch the blond man approach. Now that Ron mentioned it, Harry remembered seeing the blond hair he had only ever seen before on the Malfoys and the Delacours. 

Harry’s eyebrows rose as he took in the appearance of the other man. He always looked impeccable and tonight was no different. His entire outfit, from head to toe, was obviously tailored to fit his body perfectly. His black trousers showed off his long legs, though they weren’t skin tight. His white, long-sleeved shirt was covered by a black waistcoat of the same material as his trousers. The waistcoat was a close cut, making his lean frame easy to discern. His Slytherin green tie, tucked under the waistcoat, matched his emerald cufflinks exactly. Harry blinked at the amount of detail he had noticed and turned back to face the couple across from him, hurriedly, attributing it to his training.

Hermione scowled. “I’m not sure, Ronald. He couldn’t be here, enjoying dinner like a normal person, could he?” she snapped sarcastically.

Ron had the decency to looked chagrinned. “Sorry,” he mumbled under his breath.

Draco paused at their table. “Evening. Sorry to interrupt,” he said softly with a nod which included the whole table before focusing on Hermione. “Granger, the meeting with the Board of Governors will be Monday morning at eight. They made the decision right before end of day. I stopped by your office, hoping to catch you, but you had already left for the weekend. I was going to send you an owl in the morning, but I thought I’d tell you now, since we’re both here.”

Hermione frowned. “That wasn’t supposed to be until Thursday! Why did they change it?”

“You know why. I tried to talk them out of it, but you know how they are; a lot of warts on a toad. I’m willing to bet they didn’t think I’d tell you, considering I’m a Malfoy and you’re a Muggleborn.” ‘Not to mention our past’ hung in the air, unspoken. “Be ready for a fight; they won’t give in easily. Luckily, we have an advantage.” His lips twitched in a smirk they were all familiar with. “They’ve never gone up against you before and have no idea what they’re getting themselves into.” He smiled. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.” He nodded again and continued on towards the lavatory.

“This is just great,” Hermione fumed. “Now I only have two days to prepare for this blasted meeting!”

“’Mione, you’ve been ready for this for over a month,” Ron tried to console her, knowing it would be useless, but trying anyway.

“I think it must have been too long since we’ve seen each other,” Harry quickly said before his curly-haired friend could respond to her boyfriend. “Since when are you and Malfoy on good terms?”

“Since he approached me a few months ago with some additional ideas on reforming Hogwarts’ curriculum.” Hermione poked at her Buddhist’s Delight. “I have to admit that when I looked at my schedule and saw his name on it, I was suspicious. But not only did he have wonderful ideas, he also has the political knowledge to make sure our ideas are implemented.”

“I thought he was working on his Potions Mastery? Why does he care about the curriculum at Hogwarts? And what’s wrong with what they teach at Hogwarts?” Harry asked, confused.

“Well first of all, all Muggleborn children are ending their math, science, history, English, and arts learning at a fifth grade level. From what I understand, the wealthier pureblood families have their children tutored in these subjects during summer holidays and they get a much more extensive teaching of these subjects before they enter Hogwarts as well. Even Mrs. Weasley taught these things to her older children during the holidays and when they were younger. Ron and Ginny would have learned the same things if it weren’t for the War.” She picked up a piece of carrot and chewed it thoughtfully before continuing. “Of course, purebloods aren’t taught Muggle history nearly at all, which is quite remiss in my opinion.”

“Why would wizards need to know Muggle history?” Ron asked. Harry restrained himself from sighing at his best mate’s apparent stupidity. The third member of the Trio was already worked up. Why was he making things worse for himself?

“Because, Ronald, the Wizarding world could learn a lot from Muggles. For example, Voldemort isn’t the only hypocritical, self-loathing psychopath to gain control of a government and attempt to eradicate those he felt to be of dirty blood, even though he himself was not among those considered to be desirable, to rise to power in the last century.”

“He’s not?” he questioned, incredulous.

“No, he wasn’t.” She turned to look at the only other Muggle raised person in the group. “Harry, tell him who it was.”

This Harry knew and could answer without hesitation. “Adolf Hitler,” he answered promptly.

“Correct,” she returned with a smile. “Which war?”

“World War II.” Harry understood where she had been going with the first question, but now he was a little confused.

“And what caused World War II?”

He froze, suddenly feeling like he was back in Potions, Snape waiting for the wrong answer in order to humiliate him. “Uh… World War I?” He could see Ginny grinning out of the corner of his eye at the obvious question in his voice.

Hermione didn’t notice. “Well done! World War I was basically the direct cause of the Second World War. The other countries were so angry over everything that they punished Germany more severely than they should have. Their currency was worthless and people were starving. That, in combination with national disgrace, was exactly what made it possible for him to take over the country in the first place. He promised to make Germany great again and when it seemed he had singlehandedly saved the country from utter ruin, the people embraced him. Who wouldn’t? A politician who actually kept his promises and had done the seemingly impossible? They had no idea what he would become. Not to mention, the other countries were so devastated by the first war that they ignored what he was doing in the hopes of avoiding another one. That last part sound familiar to you, Ron?”

“Yeah,” he answered, looking shocked.

“And he’s not the only one who felt he had to purge his society of people different from him either.”

Harry sensed a tirade coming and really couldn’t be buggered to listen to it right now. He cut her off before she could really get started. “So Malfoy wants them to teach Muggle history at Hogwarts?”

Hermione didn’t skip a beat and answered Harry as if she hadn’t been about to inform Ron of all the crazy leaders of the past 100 years. “That wasn’t part of his original plan, but after a nice lunch together and reading some books I loaned him, he agreed we should try to find some way to have that included as well.” She looked infinitely pleased when she had mentioned the books and Harry could only imagine the amount of reading material she had forced on the poor man. He blinked. Did he really just sympathize with Malfoy? He shook it off and returned to listening to his friend.

“No, he was saying that he thought a large problem wasn’t just purebloods not understanding Muggleborns, but Muggleborns not understanding purebloods. He pointed out that though they spend from eleven on up in the Wizarding World, they’re missing the most formative years in this society that they’ll spend the rest of their lives being a part of. He told me that many of the problems purebloods had with Muggleborns came from Muggleborns being ignorant of pureblood ways. You can hardly expect people to truly be able to integrate into a culture they don’t understand.” She leaned forward as she began to get excited. “Harry, think of how many times someone would say something and you would have no idea what they were talking about. How often did you feel less for not knowing something that was completely normal to Ron? How often did it make you feel like you didn’t belong? I mean, I read everything I could in order to escape that feeling, but it still happened. So many of these things aren’t put into books, but are passed down through families. There isn’t really a way to learn some of these things until you run into them and find out the hard way that you’ve inadvertently insulted someone. And I had been thinking that something definitely needed to be done about that, but I couldn’t think of anyone who could and would teach that class. That’s why I was so glad when Malfoy showed up at my office talking about it.”

“So, he has someone in mind?” Ginny asked, taking a sip of her tea.

“Oh yes. And I must say, I don’t think there’s anyone more qualified to teach Wizarding Culture.”

“Who?” the other three questioned simultaneously.

Hermione looked at them like they were being particularly slow, a look Harry and Ron were very used to. “Malfoy, of course.”

Harry nearly choked. “He’s going to teach a bunch of Muggleborn children? You must be joking.”

She glared. “Why would I be joking? He’s absolutely perfect for the position. He was raised in that environment. He’s been trained since birth to be a paradigm of Wizarding culture and what a pureblood should be. He’s well versed in, not only the traditions, but the reasons behind them. Not to mention, he’s seen firsthand what that ignorance can do. I don’t think there’s anyone who could perform the job better.”

As his friend continued to extol on Malfoy’s qualifications, in his peripheral vision, Harry noticed a person walking in the direction said man had originally come from. He turned his head to see who it was, his Auror training urging him to update his catalogue of people inside the restaurant. It was just the blond returning to his table. Harry watched him finish his walk, idly noting that he had been correct in thinking Malfoy’s outfit was custom. The way the material clung to his arse was almost indecent. When Malfoy joined Blaise Zabini at his table, the other man leaned forward and said something to him, glancing back toward Harry as he did. Malfoy looked up and grey eyes locked with green. They held gazes for a moment until the Slytherin smirked. Harry jerked his head back toward his own table, feeling a blush threaten. What was he blushing for?

“Harry, didn’t McGonagall offer you the position of DADA professor again this year?” Ginny asked as the waiter approached to check on them. “The bill and some boxes, please.”

“Yeah, she did. She’s asked me to take the position for the past three years.”

“Have you thought of accepting? You’re a wonderful teacher,” Hermione told him.

Harry blushed. “No, I just-“

“Harry, I’m unsure if you’re just being modest or if you really have such little self-confidence. As an Auror, you have to be able to acknowledge your strengths as well as your weaknesses. If you can’t do that, then I don’t think you should be an Auror at all,” Hermione scolded as the bill and fortune cookies arrived.

Harry, grateful for the interruption and not really wanting to talk about this, especially not in public, hurriedly grabbed a cookie. He saw Ron already cracking open his cookie to look at the fortune inside.

Ron frowned as he took in the words. “It says ‘Avoid taking any trips next Wednesday.’ I’ll have to let Guv know so he doesn’t put me on any cases where I might have to go anywhere then… Maybe I should just stay home… It might mean any trip at all. Going to the office might even count…” He was starting to look excited at the prospect of staying home on a workday.

Hermione frowned at him. “It might. You should call in just to be safe.”

Harry balked. “’Mione, you can’t seriously condone him taking a day off for no good reason?”

“It’s a very good reason. These are Wizarding fortune cookies. They’re always right,” she replied as she anxiously opened her own cookie.

“But you think Divination is rubbish,” the former Golden Boy countered.

“I thought the fact that Trelawney thought Divination could be taught was rubbish,” she corrected. “And I may have been a little miffed that there was something I couldn’t learn from a book. However, I’m a grown woman now and I don’t let things like that bother me any longer.” She quickly read her own scrap of paper, cookie pieces forgotten. “Mine says ‘All of your hard work will pay off as an endeavor you’ve been anxious about will be successful.’ Yes!” She grinned widely. “I hope it’s talking about this Hogwarts business.”

Ginny had already opened her cookie and was just waiting for Hermione to finish. She read her own fortune and paused, face falling slightly. She cleared her throat and read. “Soon, true love will find you in the air.” There was a heavy feel to the air as Ron and Hermione looked back and forth between Harry and the youngest Weasley.

“What?” Harry asked. “You don’t honestly think she’s gonna fall in love with someone else! We’re perfect together. We’re not going to break up!” Harry defended, flabbergasted at how seriously his friends were taking this. “That fortune was in the cookie before she even opened it. One of you could have gotten it just as easily.”

Hermione shook her head and gently took Harry’s hand that was sitting on the table. “Harry, the fortunes inside are blank until the cookie is opened by a witch or wizard. Even if I had grabbed Ginny’s cookie, I would have gotten the same fortune that was in the cookie I choose.” She bit her lip, looking into her friend’s eyes. “I’ve never known one to be wrong.”

Harry stared back across the table at her and knew she was telling the truth. He gulped and all four of them looked at Harry’s cookie, sitting innocently in front of him.

He took a deep breath and opened the plastic wrap around it before snapping the cookie in half. It took a moment for the words to appear, but as soon as they did, he dropped it as if burned.

“What? What is it, Harry?” his apparently soon-to-be ex-girlfriend questioned, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Harry shook his head in disbelief. “Hermione, this has to be wrong. Please tell me it’s wrong,” he pleaded.

His studious friend leaned across the table and snatched the cookie up. She turned it around to read it and her eyes widened in surprise. “Well… I think this may explain Ginny’s fortune.”

“What?! What does it say?!” the two Weasleys asked in unison, expecting the worst with Harry’s past.

Hermione turned the fortune for the others to see. The siblings leaned forward. The small slip of paper wasn’t white like every other one they’d seen; it had a rainbow as the sentence’s backdrop. On it was written “You are gay.”

Ron burst out laughing, drawing the attention of every person in that dining room. The three at his table looked at him with confusion.

“Pray tell us, what is so funny, Ronald?” Hermione bit out.

It took Ron a few minutes of laughing to calm down enough to speak, during which Hermione and Harry paid for their meals. “I have to give Seamus his five Galleons back. It looks like he won the bet after all. Or wait… Did Dean win? I know the fortune says you’re gay, but are you sure you’re not bi? I mean, you did date my sister for like 7 years. Though it would explain why you’ve still not proposed.”

“The great Harry Potter is gay?” a voice said from next to their table. The entire group turned to see who had spoken. Of course, it was none other than the two Slytherins Harry had seen earlier. Harry groaned and put his face in his hands.

Zabini summoned Harry’s fortune, the small scrap of paper weaving between the other’s grabbing hands before Blaise snatched it out of the air. “Look, Draco,” he commanded as he turned it towards his friend. “I wish I would have known about this back at Hogwarts, though I doubt he would have looked twice at me then.” He turned to face the Chosen One. “What do you say, Potter? Fancy a shag?” he purred. Harry’s mouth opened in shock. Blaise grinned. “Well if that isn’t an invitation…” He chuckled as Harry snapped his jaw shut with a click.

Draco smirked. “Blaise, as fabulous a shag as you are, I think the Boy Wonder here would prefer someone whose number of bed partners didn’t equal his height in centimeters.”

Blaise shrugged off the comment. “I’m experienced. It makes me an even better choice for his first gay encounter.”

Harry suddenly stood, his chair scraping across the floor as he turned toward the two men, anger and embarrassment flushing his features. “I don’t know where you think you get off on trying to decide who I’ll shag, but a damned fortune from a stupid, fucking cookie isn’t going to dictate what I do with my life. Now if you would so kindly piss off, we’d like to wrap up our evening.”

Zabini raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t push because I’m experienced enough to know when not to.” Harry growled, much to the Slytherins’ amusement. “I bet I could get him to do that in bed,” Blaise whispered to his companion.

“Blaise, lay off him. It isn’t easy to suddenly discover you’re gay and while on a date with your girlfriend and her brother, no less.” He faced the woman he had spoken to earlier in the night. “I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning, Granger. And just relax; you’ll be brilliant. I know it.” She smiled at him as he nodded and began to head for the exit, Blaise following reluctantly.

“Oh and Potter?” Malfoy called, pausing a few tables away. “If you do decide you want to test that theory on your fortune, give me a fire call. I’d be glad to help you figure it out… Harry.” He winked before continuing his exit of the restaurant.

**Author's Note:**

> So I have an idea for more, but it's very vague. This is my first HP fic. I hope everyone enjoys.


End file.
